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Blue Clay People

Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge

Excerpt

This is the story of the blue clay people… it all started when God came down off his mountain and got down to the business of making people. God, who plays sax and looks like John Coltrane in his Love Supreme period, molded the first six human beings out of blue clay-three men and three women. He sat by the river all day, humming jazz riffs while shaping his creations. By the time the sun was setting, they were almost perfect. All that was missing was a little spice. Pepper would do! But as God was grinding pepper with two stones, something happened that would change the entire course of history. God sneezed. It was a sneeze so mighty that even he could not stop it. It caused the pepper to swirl up and fall on the still-wet clay people! He had let loose a fire that would burn in their blood, making people destroy each other and all of nature.

God sat down, his head in his hands. A miserable sit.

Finally God stood up and touched his blue clay people. He shrugged, saying, ‘Well, if you grind pepper, you have to expect to sneeze! And one thing’s for sure: You can never unsneeze a sneeze.’